ONE Shropshire company is signalling the way forward out of recession for small manufacturing firms with innovative products and a bid for new routes to market.

Fabweld Steel Products is seeing its customer base grow despite the economic downturn after taking a decision to introduce its own branded products.

And bosses hope a move to promote the Telford-based business in France will create a new European market for its production and supply of manhole and specialist access covers.

The company, originally launched in 1988 as Fabweld Engineering, moved to its current site in Madeley in 2001, and has seen remarkable growth.

Managing director Richard Hilton is proud the company has never laid off staff despite the recession and of the many family connections which exist within the company.

“We mainly serve our merchant customers, and we have been building the business up and using our in-house design team, we are launching a new line of branded products.”

One of the innovations at Fabweld has been the creation of new “anti-slip” covers, prompted by the concern of a farmer that his prize-winning animals could slip and suffer injuries on a traditional access cover in a field.

And the company is also moving increasingly into flood-water control solutions, creating systems to deal with specific flooding issues.

Mr Hilton said: “With us being on the bespoke side of manufacturing, we can go in and look at things and come out with a solution to a given problem, design it, give them a 3D CAD design so that they can see what it looks like, make it, and then go in and get the item installed in a relatively short space of time.”

Fabweld has also taken advantage of the UK Trade and Investment Passport to Export scheme and will be at an exhibition in France this month to promote the company.

Mr Hilton added: “We made a decision about 18 months ago that France was probably our best option. It makes sense, as none of our competitors are there.”

The company has also invested in barcode technology, allowing the  tracking and tracing of products which include manhole ladders, grates and hand rails.